Aircraft used: PMDG 738
Live weather: on
DETAIL
Firstly, let me say that the majority of textures have been downsized for Xbox release. Some are quite low-res, however you’re not really going to notice unless you use the drone and get right up close.
The terminal building is the star here: beautifully done and with a full interior (although minus the passengers seen in the PC version), both landside and airside. The landside parts outside of the terminal have been modelled, but the further you get from the terminal, the more generic the buildings get. The main attraction is the train station, which is the most detailed I’ve yet seen. The animated trains not only look great, but they are very well animated, with no unrealistic jerking or wandering off the tracks. Oh, and they’ve included the overhead electric cables from which the trains source power! Also included are the stations either side of the main airport one, albeit expectedly with less detail.
The cargo area is pretty well done but, as mentioned above, the further you get from the main terminal, the less detail there is to be seen. They have included a couple of superstores and various other bits on the approach to runway 29, and there’s some sort of factory modelled to the west of the airfield. Unfortunately, unlike a lot of Drzewiecki’s sceneries, there’s no city included (which I imagine is reflected in the price — a larger airport by area than Krakow but a couple of pounds/euros cheaper).
Ground textures airside are good, however as usual for Drzewiecki no effort has been made to improve the default ground textures landside. Always a disappointment as I doubt modelled roadways, etc. have too much impact on performance.
Night lighting is very nice, I really think they’ve nailed it here. The terminal looks great and you really get the feeling the bulk of the real airport’s lights must be LED rather than sodium.
PERFORMANCE
It’s clear that the downsized textures are an effort to pre-empt any Xbox issues, however I can’t help but feel Drzewiecki are being a bit overcautious lately. I’m fairly sure they don’t test on Xbox and so deliberately err on the side of caution. Performance is largely fine with the PMDG 737, although I have had one black screen incident which ultimately resulted in a crash (after a prolonged period using the drone to explore). Since then it’s been absolutely fine with all aircraft, and even pretty heavy use of exterior views and the drone doesn’t seem to trouble it too much. But like the majority of airports, it will demonstrably CTD if really pushed.
VERDICT
It’s a very decent little scenery, at a reasonable price. I would, however, like to have seen Gdansk city modelled, since it’s one of Poland’s largest and most important. The lower-res textures are just about good enough to hold up, even when viewed relatively close up, and the terminal interior is pretty impressive. I’m almost willing to say it’s worth the asking price for the airport train station/animated trains alone — I admit to spending a good 10 minutes watching them go flawlessly back and forth!
It’s perhaps not an airport I’ll spend too much time flying to/from but for anyone familiar with the place, or who’ll get guaranteed good use out of it, it’s worth the money. I picked it up for £9.99 and I certainly don’t regret buying it. I will revisit it occasionally (probably for another look at those trains!).
